A new Government Ordinance No. 60/2018 has introduced higher incentives for unemployed individuals that are registered as unemployed with the local authorities, are not receiving unemployment indemnity and get employed. The same Ordinance has introduced higher incentives for the companies that hire certain categories of unemployed individuals

Labour Code provision stating that the individual employment agreement will be terminated at the time of reaching both the age limit for retirement and the required contribution period is constitutional only if this provision does not limit the right for the women that reach their legal age limit of 63 to opt for the continuation of employment up until they reach the age of 65, the legal age limit for men.

The legislative proposal contains additional rules and regulations meant to ensure the enforcement of the EU Regulation 2016/679. The decisional chamber is the Senate that is expected to give the final vote as soon as possible.

The Romanian Profession Classification (RPC) is an inventory of professions that assigns a number to each profession. According to the Labour Code each individual employment agreement has to include the RPC number for the profession of the employee. In order to include the newest professional developments, the RPC is periodically revised.

In a continuous effort to further reduce undeclared employment, a new law has introduced a series of changes into the Labour Code. New rules on the registration of the individual employment agreement and new sanctions on disregarding the rules imposed by the Labor Code were introduced.

In order to ensure a safety option in case of insolvency, companies contribute to a Security Fund that can substitute itself to the employer in case of insolvency and pay the salaries to the employees affected by the insolvency. The Supreme Court was called to issue a general decision on the period the Fund can make these payments.

A new Law that defines and regulates teleworking was adopted early this March. For the first time working from a distance is recognized and regulated under Romanian Law. Employees that work from home or from any other place organized by the employer for working at a distance will establish an employment relationship and will enjoy all the benefits a regular employee has.

A Union Federation that was entitled to participate in collective bargaining at a Company level has declared the premises for a collective conflict after mandatory negotiations for an addendum to the existing Collective Agreement failed to result in consensus. The declaration of the collective conflict is a mandatory procedure before the strike. Within Companies that have an existing Collective Agreement a strike cannot be declared.

Following the recent changes in tax legislation a number of issues were identified concerning specific types of employees such as part-time employees, employees with disabilities and employees in the IT industry. In order to limit the negative effects of the new tax legislation a Government Ordinance was issued.